It has longs been realized in the health care industry that the handling of syringes can be problematic due to the accidental pricking and sticking of fingers, arms and other parts of the body by contaminated needles after syringes are used to administer drugs or to draw blood from patients. This problem has become particularly acute with the recent concern about Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or "AIDS" as well as periodic outbreaks of various strains of hepatitis. Patents that are known and which discuss these types of problems are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,969,554, 4,979,616, 5,024,323, 5,024,326, 5,133,454, 5,156,267, 5,293,993 and EP-367 422.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a locking package or container having a pair of cover members hingedly interrelated and movable between open and closed positions to permit access to a syringe receiving cavity located between the cover members, which cover members have structure thereon adapted to receive a locking key therein to lock the two cover members together in the closed position thereby denying convenient access to the contents of the now locked container.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a locking container, as aforesaid, which has syringe holding structure therein as well as a locking key holding structure with an elongated locking key removably stored on the locking key holding structure which, when the cover members have been moved to the open position, allow access to a syringe held by the syringe holding structure and access to the locking key held by the locking key holding structure.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a locking container, as aforesaid, wherein one of the cover members has a vial supporting structure thereon which can be accessed when the cover members have been moved to the open position.